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By Max Burman with NBC News&bullet;
last updated:
29/12/2017

LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to share her Concorde with a giant panda while on her way to meet President Ronald Reagan in 1981, newly released documents revealed Friday.

Spotting a chance for some publicity, London Zoological Society president Lord Zuckerman suggested that Thatcher would perhaps like to conduct the handover of the panda personally in order to generate some positive headlines.

"Lord Zuckerman sees this as a signal demonstration of the special relationship and would be very happy to time the announcement of the loan or the delivery of the panda in any way that the prime minister thought would be most likely to benefit Anglo-American relations," British Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong wrote at the time. "He even suggested that the prime minister might like to take the panda in the back of her Concorde, when she goes to Washington next month."

Thatcher, who was known as the Iron Lady, was apparently not enthused by the idea.

President Ronald Reagan, right, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher share a laugh on July 21, 1981. AP Photo, file

In a handwritten response, the archives show Thatcher wrote: "I am not taking a panda with me. Pandas and politicians are not happy omens!"

The words "not" and "me" were underlined twice.

As it turned out, Thatcher didn't require a panda publicity stunt to give new life to Anglo-American relations.